Crave (Splendor Book 2) (15 page)

Tessa frowned. “Short term? I’m not sure I like the sound of that. Are you planning to have me transferred somewhere?”

“No. That’s not one of the options I’ve considered. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves just a bit.” He brushed her hair behind her ear. “I’ve told you more than once that I don’t want to overwhelm you, Tessa. Nor do I want to control or manipulate you - ever. That’s not the sort of relationship I want to have with you.”

She nodded. “I know you don’t. And that means a lot to me, Ian. It would be so easy for me to just allow you to take me over, to depend on you for everything. But I don’t think I’d like myself very much if I let that happen.”

“Well, it’s nothing you have to worry about because I won’t let that happen, either. You’re a bright, capable young woman, and I fully intend to help you realize that. Now, as I was saying, I’ve broken all of my hard and fast rules for you by getting involved with an employee. In particular, an employee who works directly for me. We cannot let anyone else find out, Tessa. The repercussions for both of us would be - unpleasant.”

“I know,” she agreed readily. “I’m good at keeping secrets, Ian. I’m also very closed mouthed about my personal life, even if the rest of the team is pretty much an open book about theirs. Especially Kevin.”

Ian grimaced when he noticed the way she wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Yes, I’ve had the great misfortune of overhearing some of that young man’s - er, exploits. I can just imagine some of the tawdry tales he’s offended you with.”

“It’s okay,” she assured him. “He’s an airhead and, well, kind of a slut, but at least he’s always been kind to me. Not like A -”

“Alicia,” he finished. “No great surprise there. That one’s a nasty, stuck-up little witch. Unfortunately, her parents attend many of the same events that I do, and she’s invited along occasionally. I’m not pleased that she knows quite so much about my social life.”

“She’s pretty fixated on you,” Tessa told him quietly. “She’s even talked about quitting her job so that you’d be free to date her.”

Ian made a small sound of distaste. “It certainly wouldn’t bother me in the least if she quit, but there’s nothing she could do that would entice me to ask her out. Ever. Alicia is definitely not my type, so put that thought out of your head right now.”

“Okay,” she agreed happily.

“I appreciate that you’ve always been the epitome of discretion at the office, Tessa. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to take even more precautions now to make sure no one suspects we’re involved. If someone asks what you did on the weekend, for example, or if you’re dating someone, you’ll have to find a way to diffuse the situation.” He hesitated. “I hate to outright ask you to lie, but if it becomes necessary -”

“I’ll do whatever I have to in order to protect both of us,” she insisted. “And I’ve become pretty good at avoiding personal questions. Fortunately, the others love to talk about themselves so much that they seldom ask about me.”

Ian was beginning to feel a little less worried about what could have easily developed into an awkward situation. “All right. I’ll count on you to keep everything under wraps and simply avoid discussing your personal life as much as possible. The far more difficult part, I fear, is going to be for the two of us to act as though nothing has changed.”

“I know.” She began to twirl a lock of her hair through her fingers again. “While we’re at the office, you’re back to being Mr. Gregson. But we really don’t see much of each other during the day anyway. Especially since you travel so much.”

“And that’s another huge problem.” He picked up her hand, forcing her to release the lock of hair. “I’ve always missed you when I was away, but at least in the past it helped having some distance between us. Out of sight, out of mind, that sort of thing. But now that we’ve been together, it won’t be nearly so easy to stop thinking of you. It will be damned near impossible, in fact.” He brought their clasped hands to his lips, his voice solemn. “I want you with me all the time, Tessa. Living with me permanently here in San Francisco, but also traveling with me wherever I need to go.”

She made a small sound of surprise and gazed at him wide-eyed. “But how would that be possible? I mean, there’s no way to keep that a secret. Plus, I have to work. I couldn’t just take time off whenever you had to travel.”

“You’d have to quit your job, Tessa,” he told her gently. “And if we’re going to continue this relationship - something I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure happens - then you’ll need to do that sooner than later anyway. I don’t want to pressure you, it has to ultimately be your decision, but we could be together freely if you left the company.”

She gazed down at their clasped hands quietly, her expression almost brooding. “I wouldn’t be able to work at all if you want me to travel with you. You’d be - I’d have to be dependent on you to -”

“Support you. Yes, I’m aware. And that is certainly not a problem, love. I’m more than willing and capable of doing exactly that.”

Tessa shook her head. “Ian - as much as I appreciate that, I can’t do it. I can’t just be your - your girlfriend or whatever the correct term is for that sort of arrangement.”

He smiled wryly. “The very old-fashioned term you’re thinking of is a mistress. And that’s not at all what I’m proposing, darling. My thought was to have you travel with me and provide any administrative support I need. As you know, Andrew rarely travels with me, only a few times a year. The rest of the time I depend on the office staff at whatever hotel I’m visiting to provide assistance. But if you were along I wouldn’t need to do that.”

She instantly brightened at his suggestion. “Oh. So I would unofficially be your traveling PA, something like that. Just not officially an employee of the company.”

“Exactly.” He smiled to note how pleased - and relieved - she seemed with the idea. “And you can expect to work quite hard during those times. I work long hours, attend far too many meetings, go to incredibly boring dinners. But if you were along to help me, not to mention grace me with your beautiful company, it would make everything a great deal more pleasant.”

“That sounds reasonable,” she agreed. “I mean, I wouldn’t be earning a salary but I also wouldn’t feel like a - a kept woman, or something like that, so long as I could be doing real work.”

“I think it’s an excellent plan. In addition, I’d like for you to continue doing all of my spreadsheets, whether we’re traveling or not. I frankly don’t trust any of the others to do them correctly, even Andrew.” He gave her a conspiratorial smile. “But don’t you dare tell him that, he’d be quite offended. And truth be told, he can be very intimidating.”

Tessa laughed. “Not you, too? All of us try to walk on eggshells around him, not wanting to annoy him. Though poor Shelby seems to receive the brunt of his displeasure.”

“So, it’s settled, then? When you feel the time is right - after we’ve come to know each other a bit better and you’re more comfortable with the idea - you’ll give notice?”

She nodded. “Yes. I just need some time, as you said. And I want you to detail for me exactly the sort of things I’d be expected to do as your so-called traveling PA. I want to make sure I’m really doing something valuable, not just fetching you tea and sorting out your papers.”

He grinned. “Not to worry, love. I’ll find many ways to keep you busy all day long.” He bent his head and nuzzled her throat. “All night, too.”

Ian gave her a quick kiss, then set her down on the sofa before standing and offering her a hand up. “It’s still pouring outside, I’m afraid, so we’re stuck here. How does a workout in the gym sound?”

Tessa was more than agreeable and joined him a few minutes later in his small but well equipped home fitness room. Ian usually worked out at the private health club he belonged to, one that boasted two Olympic-sized pools, an expansive weight and cardio room, handball, squash, and tennis courts, and a boxing room where he could keep his skills sharpened. But his home gym more than filled his needs on those occasions when he didn’t have time to get to his club, or when the inclement weather made it preferable to stay at home.

During his condensed shopping spree yesterday, he’d thrown in a set of workout attire for Tessa almost as an afterthought. But as she walked inside his gym, he silently congratulated himself on his hurried choices.

She wore an exercise bra of dark blue piped in black, with a wide black zipper down the front. The Lycra fabric clung to her breasts lovingly, and sweat popped out on his brow even before he’d begun his workout. The coordinating shorts were even tinier than the ones she’d been wearing that day at the office gym, when that bastard Jason had dared to put his slimy hands on her. The dark blue cotton shorts bared a great deal of her long, shapely legs, and cupped the luscious curves of her rounded ass enticingly.

He was thankful that no other admiring eyes were around to see her dressed like this - or, more accurately, barely dressed. Ian made a mental note to buy her some other workout gear that wasn’t nearly as skimpy. He shuddered to imagine the reaction she’d receive walking into his club looking like this - all endlessly long legs, ripe tits, and glowing skin.

Over the next hour he tried -
really
tried - to focus on his own workout - lifting weights; doing several sets of crunches on the slant board while hefting a medicine ball; using the pull-up bar before dropping to the floor for as many push-ups as he could endure. But he found it impossible to stop sneaking glances at Tessa every five - or two - minutes, and then having to stifle a groan at the tempting sight she made. As she jogged on the treadmill, her breasts jiggled slightly, the exercise bra not quite as supportive as it ought to be. When she took her turn on the slant board, the waistband of her shorts dipped a couple of inches to reveal her navel. And as she bent over at the waist to stretch her hamstrings, flexible enough that her palms were flat on the floor, the hem of the tiny shorts crept up to bare part of her ass cheeks.

What made these frequent, furtive peeks at her even more alluring was the realization that she wasn’t even trying to seem enticing, and that she didn’t appear to even be aware of his gaze upon her.

After an hour, both of them were sweaty and fatigued. Ian took a long swig from a bottle of water before handing it to Tessa.

“Had enough for today?” he asked.

She nodded, swallowing a gulp of water. “I’m good. This is so awesome that you have your very own gym. You must work out here a lot.”

“I try to get in a workout at least five days a week, but I don’t actually use this room very often. The club I belong to is much larger and I like to use their pool and other facilities.”

She ran her palm up his arm under the sleeve of his workout shirt. “Is that where you box?” she asked in a husky voice, her big eyes seeming bluer than usual as she gazed up at him.

Ian stifled a groan as Tessa stepped closer, her breasts brushing up against his chest. “Yes, that’s the place.”

She gave his bicep a squeeze while her other hand slid up his chest. “Would you let me - that is, could I watch you sometime? Go through your workout, I mean. I’d love to do that.”

“Of course you may,” he replied, pleased at her interest. “But we might need to wait on that a bit, love. Several of my executives belong to the same club and work out there frequently, so I’d have a bit of a tough time smuggling you in.”

Tessa rubbed her cheek against his throat. “Hmm, extra motivation for me to leave the company that much sooner, I suppose.”

His hands gripped her hips, pulling her close against him, and letting her feel his rapidly hardening erection. “When it’s time, I’ll get you a membership there so we can work out together. They have classes you might like, too - kickboxing, spinning, yoga.”

Tessa ground her pelvis invitingly against his cock, severely testing his already fragile self-control. “I love going to yoga,” she told him, sliding her arms up his chest to clasp around his neck. “Julia has brought me to her studio as a guest a couple of times, and her teacher is amazing.”

Ian grit his teeth as she pushed her breasts into his chest. “I, ah, didn’t realize you saw Julia outside of the office.”

“Is that all right?” she asked anxiously. “I mean, she’s always been so nice to me and I don’t have many friends so -”

“Hush.” He kissed her softly. “Of course it’s all right. I’d much rather see you going out with Julia than with one of the girls from the office. She’s far more grounded and sensible than any of them, not to mention engaged to Nathan.”

Tessa regarded him curiously. “What does that have to do with it?”

His hand splayed over the band of bare skin between her exercise bra and shorts. “She’s already spoken for, darling, which means she won’t be talking you into trolling singles bars looking for men.”

She tunneled her hands up beneath his shirt, exploring the muscles of his back. “And why would I want to do something like that anyway?”

He hissed as one of her hands slipped beneath the waistband of his athletic shorts, not stopping until it reached his buttocks. “So that you could find someone closer to your age, perhaps.” He shrugged, feigning a nonchalance he damned sure didn’t feel. “A hot, gorgeous girl like yourself would only have to walk inside a bar or a club, and you’d be swarmed with interested young men.”

Tessa swiftly slid her palms to either side of his face, gazing at him with fire in her blue eyes. “If I was in a room surrounded by a thousand different men, you’re still the only one I’d want - the only one I’d see. I don’t care about the age difference, Ian. My God, you’ve got the most beautiful body of any man alive. Why would I ever want anyone else?”

Her passionately spoken words not only touched him profoundly, but aroused him fiercely. “I’m a damned lucky bastard,” he muttered. “Though I’ll have my work cut out for me keeping up with you, my sweet. Extra workouts, more vitamins, increasing my intake of protein. I’ll need to do all of that and more in order to have enough energy to keep you satisfied.”

He yelped as she very unexpectedly gave him a smack on the ass.